Spurred by a strong commitment to both animal welfare and agriculture, Sen. Feinstein introduced the bill to push forward improvements in housing for 280 million hens used in U.S. egg production, while providing a stable future for egg farmers.

The legislation will require egg producers to essentially double the space allotted per hen and make other important animal welfare improvements during a tiered phase-in period that allows farmers time to make the investments in better housing, with the assurance that all will face the same requirements by the end of the phase-in period.

The legislation has an unusually diverse coalition of backers in industry, animal welfare, science-based groups, and consumer protection.

“This legislation will help ensure the American consumers continue to have a wide variety and uninterrupted supply of eggs at affordable prices,” says Gene Gregory, president of United Egg Producers, which represents farmers who produce nearly 90 percent of the eggs in the U.S.

“Our industry is being endangered by the growing patchwork of differing and contradictory state laws and ballot initiatives that are impeding the free flow of interstate commerce in eggs that is so vital to grocers, restaurateurs, food manufacturers, and consumers.”

“This legislation is a compromise between HSUS and UEP, with both organizations stretching themselves in order to find a solution that’s good for animal welfare, for the industry, and for the nation as a whole,” says Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States. “There’s no reason for Congress to do anything but enthusiastically embrace this sort of problem-solving by the primary stakeholders.”

“This is legislation that egg farmers want and need to survive,” says David Lathem, second-generation egg farmer from Georgia and chairman of United Egg Producers. “Because it is an amendment to the Egg Products Inspection Act it only affects egg farmers: no other farmers would be impacted. We thank the Senator for her leadership.”

The Egg Products Inspection Act Amendments of 2012 would:

require conventional cages to be replaced during an ample phase-in period with new, enriched colony housing systems that provide each egg-laying hen nearly double the amount of current space;

require that, after a phase-in period, all egg-laying hens be provided with environmental enrichments, such as perches, nesting boxes and scratching areas, that will allow hens to express natural behaviors;

require labeling on all egg cartons nationwide to inform consumers of the method used to produce the eggs: “eggs from caged hens,” “eggs from hens in enriched cages,” “eggs from cage-free hens” and “eggs from free-range hens”;

prohibit feed- or water-withdrawal molting to extend the laying cycle, a practice already prohibited by the United Egg Producers Certified program;

require standards approved by the American Veterinary Medical Association for euthanasia of egg-laying hens;

prohibit excessive ammonia levels in henhouses; and

prohibit the transport and sale of eggs and egg products nationwide that don’t meet these requirements.

If enacted, the proposal would require egg producers to increase space per hen in a tiered phase-in, with the amount of space hens are given increasing, in intervals, over the next 15 to 18 years. (Phase-in schedules are more rapid in California, consistent with a ballot initiative approved earlier by that state’s voters.)

Currently, the majority of hens are each provided 67 square inches of space, with up to 50 million receiving 48 square inches. The proposed phase-in would culminate with a minimum of 124 square inches of space for white hens and 144 for brown hens nationwide.

Farmers have begun to invest in enrichable cage housing systems in hopes that this legislation will pass and provide clarity for what is acceptable hen housing in all states in the future.